The Korea Summit

North and South Korea are scheduled to meet in Pyongyang for an historic summit meeting on June 12-14. This meeting, a half-century after the Korean War, could prove to be a major turning point in the history of the Korean Peninsula and North East Asia. At this press briefing, two Brookings scholars—including one who has just returned from the area—will discuss the backdrop to this summit and its implications for the two Koreas, other countries of the region, and the United States. Questions to be addressed include:

• What are South Korean President Kim Dae Jung and North Korea’s Supreme Leader Kim Jong-il likely to accomplish in this first-ever meeting of the two heads of state?
• What lies behind the North’s sudden willingness to talk? Is it the disastrous condition of the North Korean economy?
• What do Korea’s neighbors—China, Russia, and Japan—think of the meeting?
• What is at stake for the United States? What can the Clinton Administration do to influence events?